Mr. Bubble in Medora

June 28, 2018 to June 29, 2018

6/28-6/29

We knew there was something peculiar about Medora shortly after we arrived. Many of the lodging and restaurant employees were wearing the same uniforms and several appeared to be international students. We wondered if the town of Medora might be owned and operated by a cruise ship company(??)

The Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation was established in 1986 with a grant from Harold Schafer after he sold his Gold Seal company. For those of you that were around in the 60's and 70's, do you remember Snowy Bleach, Glass Wax, or Mr. Bubble? They were a few of the highly profitable products that made Mr. Schafer's handsome investment in Medora possible.

The TR Medora Foundation operates multiple businesses (lodging, dining, entertainment), and hires about 350 seasonal employees each summer. Most of them are students and some of them have international student and work visas. All of these employees have access to the beautiful Bill and Jane Marcil Life Skills Center where they can study, exercise, eat, and learn from each other. The facility also includes a full-size replica of the town amphitheatre for Medora Musical rehearsals.

Yet another impressive Medora facility is the Spirit of Work lodge, which houses many of the 300 or so volunteers that assist in making the town's tourism magic happen. We met one of the volunteers at the Harold Schafer Heritage Center. She and her husband were there for a 1-week assignment and had different tasks each day, depending on where help was needed.

And how did the great profits of Mr. Bubble help the Grumbys? One of the Medora Foundation projects is converting oil biz "man camp" prefab buildings into innovative, charming, and affordable lodging. Elkhorn Quarters is a tiny house style hotel that provided us shelter during the thunderstorms and tornado warning during our stay in Medora.

We didn't get to see Medora's main attraction, the Medora Musical, while we were in town. But we are grateful for Harold Schafer's Mr. Bubble and the other Gold Seal products that helped take Medora's tourism to a new level.

If you find yourself in Medora, we did hear from our touring cyclist friends Cissy and Rich that the musical is a worthwhile outing. They saw the show when they were riding the Lewis & Clark route a few years ago.

Mr. Bubble appeared in one of Ron's favorite movies as a product placement before they were common in movies.

Harold Schafer played a small part in the film Once Upon a Time in the West, with Henry Fonda and other bigshot stars

The Medora Musical has been going on since 1965

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Dan SuchanekI'm glad that you are doing stuff around the towns you are passing through. It must make the whole journey more fun and interesting. But I think you need to order something else that will take you weeks to track down.
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6 years ago

Ron SuchanekTo Dan SuchanekYeah we want to be able to check things out as we go. It should get better as we keep moving west. Not sure what the next thing I'll have to chase will be but I'm.sure it'll happen.
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6 years ago